Injuries dog City

STOKE-ON-TRENT. – Manuel Pellegrini claims injuries have crippled Manchester City as they prepare for Champions League soccer action on the back of a dismal 2-0 defeat at Stoke.

Pellegrini’s side surrendered first place in the English Premier League to Leicester following their woeful effort on Saturday and have little time to pick themselves up from a damaging loss before they face Borussia Monchengladbach at Eastlands tomorrow.

But Pellegrini will be forced to call again on an injury-hit squad after midfielder Fernando limped off at the Britannia Stadium with a hamstring problem to join the growing list of casualties.

Captain Vincent Kompany, fellow defender Pablo Zabaleta, midfielders Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri and striker Sergio Aguero sat out Saturday’s game and all five are likely to miss the Borussia tie, which City need to win to have a chance of finishing top of Group D.

“We need to play now on Tuesday. If we had the complete week to recover it might be easy but we must play again on Tuesday and are going to play with the same players that played in this game except Kelechi Iheanacho, who cannot play,” Pellegrini said.

“Fernando has a problem with his hamstring so we will see how long he will be injured.

“We played very badly because we are playing with the same 12 or 13 players. It is difficult when don’t have your whole squad and you have an average of six or seven players injured every game.”

Lethargic City were punished by two first-half goals by Marko Arnautovic as Stoke claimed a deserved win and Pellegrini conceded his players were well below their best.

“We were playing with the same players as the last three games and that maybe is the reason why we didn’t play with the energy we need to win,” Pellegrini said.

“It is not just a matter of defending badly. We didn’t create chances also. When we defend, all the players must be involved in defending.

“Over the complete game we didn’t have the energy to compete in the same way as Stoke and it is difficult because we are the only team that is involved in all the competitions.”- AFP.